Voice Controlled Assistant with Coaxial Speaker and Microphone Arrangement

1. A device comprising: a housing having a top end and a base end; one or more microphones mounted proximal to the top end of the housing to receive audio; a processor mounted within the housing to process a signal representation of the audio; memory mounted within the housing and accessible by the processor; a network interface to communicate with a network; a first speaker to output a first frequency range of audio sound; a second speaker to output a second frequency range of audio sound; and the first and second speakers being coaxially aligned within the housing and oriented to output the audio sound toward the base end of the housing and away from the one or more microphones.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the device is to rest on the base end when positioned on a surface.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the housing comprises an elongated, cylindrical shaped middle section extending between the top and base ends along a center axis, the first and second speakers being coaxially aligned along the center axis.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the housing comprises openings formed proximal to the base end to pass the audio sound.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more microphones comprise multiple microphones arranged in a circle at the top end of the housing.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first speaker outputs a middle-to-high frequency range of the audio sound and the second speaker outputs a low frequency range of the audio sound.

7. The device of claim 6 , wherein, when the device is resting on the base end, the second speaker is mounted above the first speaker such that the first speaker is closer to the base end than the second speaker.

8. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a sound distribution cone mounted in the housing to distribute the audio sound emitted from at least one of the first speaker or the second speaker.

9. The device of claim 8 , wherein the sound distribution cone is coaxially arranged in the housing adjacent to one or more of the first speaker or the second speaker.

10. The device of claim 8 , wherein the housing has a center axis and the sound distribution cone directs the audio sound at least partially radial outward from the center axis.

11. The device of claim 8 , wherein the sound distribution cone directs the audio sound outward from the housing proximal to the base end.

12. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a speech recognition module stored in the memory and executable on the processor to recognize speech in the signal representation of the audio.

13. A device comprising: a housing having a base to support the housing on a surface and a distal top end; at least one microphone mounted at the top end of the housing to receive audio; a processor mounted within the housing to process a signal representation of the audio to at least one of (1) form a query to search for information or (2) reduce a double talk component in the signal representation; and a plurality of speakers arranged inside the housing and oriented to output sound in a downward direction toward the base and away from the microphone.

14. The device of claim 13 , wherein the housing has one or more openings near the base to pass sound waves from at least one of the speakers.

15. The device of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of speakers are coaxially aligned.

16. The device of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of speakers and the microphone are coaxially aligned.

17. The device of claim 13 , further comprising a sound distribution cone arranged inside of the housing to distribute the sound emitted from at least one of the speakers.

18. The device of claim 17 , wherein the plurality of speakers and the sound distribution cone are coaxially aligned.

19. The device of claim 17 , wherein the sound distribution cone directs the sound at least partially in a radial outward direction substantially perpendicular to the downward direction.

20. The device of claim 17 , wherein the sound distribution cone directs the sound outward from the housing proximal to the base.

21. A device comprising: a housing having a base to support the housing on a surface and a distal top end; a processor mounted within the housing to form a query to search for information; at least one speaker mounted in the housing and oriented to output sound in a downward direction toward the base and away from the top end; and a sound distribution cone mounted in the housing to distribute the sound emitted from the speaker, wherein the sound distribution cone and the speaker are coaxially aligned.

22. The device of claim 21 , wherein the at least one speaker comprises first and second speakers coaxially aligned with one another and with the sound distribution cone.

23. The device of claim 21 , wherein the sound distribution cone directs the sound in a radial outward direction substantially perpendicular to the downward direction.

24. A method comprising: receiving audio, via one or more microphones, in a device having the one or more microphones positioned at a top end; processing a signal representation of the audio; and outputting sound via one or more speakers arranged in a base end of the device, wherein the sound is output from the one or more speakers in a downward direction toward the base end directionally opposite to the one or more microphones in the top end.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein processing the signal representation of the audio comprises recognizing speech utterances in the signal representation.

26. The method of claim 24 , wherein processing the signal representation of the audio comprises forming a query to search for information.

27. The method of claim 24 , wherein processing the signal representation of the audio comprises performing acoustic echo cancellation in the signal representation.

28. The method of claim 24 , wherein processing the signal representation of the audio comprises reducing a double talk component in the signal representation.

29. The method of claim 24 , wherein outputting sound comprises emitting a first sound of a first frequency range from a first speaker and emitting a second sound of a second frequency range from a second speaker.

30. The method of claim 29 , wherein the first and second sounds are emitted in the downward direction.

31. The method of claim 24 , further comprising redirecting at least part of the sound radially outward from the base end.

32. The device of claim 13 , wherein the processor is configured to process the signal representation of the audio to form the query at least in part by using natural language processing.

33. The device of claim 13 , wherein the microphone receives audio in the form of speech from a user, the device further comprising: a speech recognition module that is executed by the processor to process the signal representation to parse the speech; and a query formation module that is executed by the processor to receive the parsed speech from the speech recognition module and to form the query based at least in part on the parsed speech.

34. The device of claim 21 , wherein the processor is configured to form the query at least in part by using natural language processing.